There are many situations in the packaging industry where it is necessary to ship and store articles that are very long and which will be damaged by bending. This is particularly true in the case of long Venetian blinds. Since these blinds include a metal control box, there is no problem of bending or breakage when the lengths are small. When, however, the Venetian blind is long, i.e., in the order of 50 inches, the conventional containers are not adequate to prevent damage.
In the past, it has been common to package items, such as blinds, in tubular containers having a triangular cross-sectional shape, the container usually being made of corrugated board. Such containers are shown and described in the patents of GREENWOOD No. 2,227,341; LOCKE No. 3,199,765; SHAW No. 3,244,348; PASCUS et al No. 3,482,760; McCALL No. 3,550,834; STEWART No. 3,756,497; WOESTE No. 3,891,136; MULLER et al No. 4,172,522; PREMION No. 4,202,485; and KOSSOFF No. 4,253,601.
The patent of HORNE et al No. 2,822,083 shows a blind that is packaged by use of a strap. Other variations of the "wrap around" method of packaging are shown in the patents of OKONSKI No. 2,340,422 and KALANJUK et al No. 4,880,944. In addition, several patents show the use of corrugated board for reinforcement, including the patents of RUPP No. 2,950,038; LIEBEL No. 4,77l,893; and LIEBEL No. 4,865,201.
None of these constructions lend themselves to the packaging of very long Venetian blinds, because they do not provide adequate protection against bending. Furthermore, they tend to be expensive and difficult to assemble.
These and other difficulties experienced with the prior art dvices have been obviated in a novel manner by the present invention.
It is, therefore, an outstanding object of the invention to provide a container for elongated articles which container is very rigid and which inhibits bending.
Another object of this invention is the provision of a container especially adapted to ship and store a Venetian blind and to prevent damage to it.
A further object of the instant invention is the provision of a triangular wrap-around container, which is simple and rugged in design, which is inexpensive to manufacture, and which is capable of a long life of useful sevice.
It is another object of the instant invention to provide a container that is particularly adapted to solve the problems encountered in the shipment of a long Venetian blind.
A still further object of the invention is the provision of a container which presents its greatest resistance to bending in the plane of the least resistance to bending of an article contained therein.
With these and objects in view, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art, the invention resides in the combination of parts set forth in the specification and covered by the claims appended hereto.